Binge-watching and reading are the same

Binge-watching, whose usage has apparently rocketed 200% in the last few months, deserves to be chosen as 2015’s word of the year by Collins dictionary. After all, if several surveys have revealed that overwhelming numbers of respondents now watch more than three episodes of a series a day and considerable numbers spend whole weekends watching a single show, a sea change has indeed occurred in the way people watch television now. It also means, of course, that people have very little to do even in their spare time if they can spend so many hours glued to television sets. Some may even aver that ploughing through an entire series of Homeland or Game of Thrones is ultimately less dangerous — and certainly less fattening — than most other indulgences and addictions, so binge-watching is actually a lifesaver.

However, this sustained activity appears antithetical to the increasing momentariness of other au courant pastimes such as tweeting and microblogging, which hopscotch over a multitude of interests in quick succession. It seems that instead of zoning out to relieve stress — caused by too much of social media — people paradoxically want to immerse themselves in alternative universes inside the box. In that sense, binge-watching could be regarded as the electronic equivalent of that good old pastime: reading a thick book.